A Canberra hotel became the unwitting venue for a shipment of drugs last week, when it received a package of crystalline rock of MDMC (Methylenedioxymethcathinone) with a street value of about $60,000.
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Police pounced after a 25-year-old man came to collect the package, the ACT Magistrates Court was told on Saturday.
The package had earlier been intercepted by Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and Mantra hotel staff tipped off police when it arrived.
Police Detective Senior Constable Christopher Smith told the court from the witness stand the package arrived on August 7 at the hotel and was addressed to the name of Jason Corser. He said police obtained the package and sent it for preliminary testing.
A chemical presumptive test and a light spectrum test indicated the substance was MDMC but it would be sent off for further tests which would be conclusive, Detective Senior Constable Smith said.
The court was told that MDMC in a crystalline rock form was usually crushed into powder and made into pills that would be sold for about $30 each. The amount seized by police – 496.3 grams – was enough to make about 2000 pills.
Police arrested 25-year-old Wright man Peter Edward Poulakis, a full-time labourer, when he arrived to collect the package, the court was told.
He has been charged with importing a border-controlled drug.
Detective Senior Constable Smith said police believed the drugs had been ordered via the internet and had come from overseas.
He said a search warrant was executed at Poulakis' house and police had seized laptop computers, an iPad mini and a smartphone, which would be forensically examined.
The court was told in Poulakis' defence, the tests conducted were only preliminary and the substance might not be MDMC but could possibly be lollies.
The court heard Poulakis was paying off a mortgage with his partner, who relied on him for help because she had recently had back surgery.
Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker said the maximum penalty for importing a border controlled drug was 25 years' jail.
She refused bail, noting she was concerned that due to the severity of the potential penalty, Poulakis might not voluntarily appear before the court again if he was released on bail.
The case was adjourned until Monday, August 11.
